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Northern Province - Potgietersrus |
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Just off the N1 national highway that leads north from Johannesburg-Pretoria to Zimbabwe. A quiet little town named after Commandant Hermanus Potgieter, who was killed in 1854 during an engagement with Chief Makapan's Tlou followers (see further on). It lay abandoned for some years, but was resettled in 1890 and is now the centre of a thriving farming area among whose major crops are groundnuts, tobacco and citrus. The climate of the region is invitingly subtropical; the town is sheltered and its gardens, famed for their aloes, which are usually a blaze of colour. Arend Dieperink Museum In the old schoolhouse off Voortrekker Road; on display is a splendid variety of old farm vehicles and equipment and, inside, some intriguing artifacts recovered from the Makapansgat cave (see further on), including the 3-million-year old remains of the man-ape Australopithecus africanus. Game Breeding Centre Part of the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa network, the centre breeds both indigenous (mainly rare or endangered species, including white and black rhino; (the black rhinos have their own reserve) and exotic animals. Among the latter are llama, pygmy hippo, blackbuck, hog deer, mouflon wild sheep, the Madagascar lemur and the capybara, largest of the world's rodents. The flat grassland is also home to waterbuck, giraffe, plains zebra and others. The Reserve boasts the province's biggest walk-through aviary. On offer: conducted tours; game-viewing walks, and a fully equipped guest-house. Citrus Estates Some of Southern Africa's largest citrus groves are cultivated some 45 kilometres east of town - more than half a million trees produce 500 million oranges (Valencias and navels). Visitors are welcome. Makapansgat This cavern - 'Makapan's Cave' - may be visited with permission from the Potgietersrus Museum (see above). In 1854 a Boer commando, determined on revenge after an ambush, besieged an Ndebele clan chieftain named Makapan, or Mokopane, and about 3,000 of his followers. Most of the latter died of thirst, the remainder (700 of them) were killed when they tried to make a break for it. The cave, though, has less dismal associations: it's proved an archaeologist's treasure house, yielding numerous humanoid fossils, including the remains of a 3-million-year old man-ape (see Arend Diepewrink Museum above). Pietersburg/Polekwane lies on the N1 national highway to the north-east; Nylstroom and Warmbaths off the highway to the south-west. |
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POTGIETERSRUS Western Cape
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